An American man, known as "The Child Porn King" among pedophiles, has been arrested for the production and distribution of child pornography in the largest seizure of illicit digital content in history.

David Timothy Deakin was taken into custody following a raid at his home where is suspected of torturing and raping children and using webcams to create videos, images and live streams to sell to global pedophile rings.

Authorities seized 30 hard drives and numerous computers during the raids where they hope to find information on buyers and victims to enable them to make further arrests and possible rescues.

The 53-year-old suspect originally from Peoria, Illinois, has lived in the Philippines for the last 17 years from where he has been abusing Filipino children and providing pedophilia networks around the world with vile content.

A video of Deakin's arrest shows disturbing images of children's underwear, handcuffs and fetish gear scattered around his two-bedroom townhouse.